Carnotaurus
| image = 1024px-Carnotaurus_2017.png | image_caption = An artist's illustration of Carnotaurus sastrei | image_width = 240px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | clade1 = Dinosauria | ordo = Saurischia | subordo = Theropoda | familia = †Abelisauridae | tribus = †Carnotaurini | genus = †''Carnotaurus'' | genus_authority = Bonaparte, 1985 | species = †''C. sastrei'' | binomial = Carnotaurus sastrei | binomial_authority = Bonaparte, 1985 }} ''Carnotaurus (car·no·taur·us) ''(meaning, meat eating bull) was a large bipedal dinosaur which lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous Period. It is a relative of other theropod dinosaurs such as Abelisaurus, Majungasaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Rajasaurus. Carnotaurus lived in Patagonia, Argentina about 80 million years ago, and was discovered by José F. Bonaparte, who has discovered many other bizarre, South American dinosaurs. Description Carnotaurus was a large theropod and one of the largest abelisaurs, about 7-9 meters in length, and between 2-3 tons in weight. Abelisaurids have odd features in their heads, as Carnotaurus had two large brow horns over its eyes, while its smaller relative Majungasaurus had highly bizarre looking knob on its head. The Ceratosaurus had a few horns on its head also. It is probably the fastest running theropod, reaching a speed of up to 40 mph. Front limbs morphology Abelisaurids also have very reduced forelimbs with four or five fingers. In particular, the arms of Carnotaurus, when compared to their body size, were far smaller than even than those of Tyrannosaurus and were completely useless, and possibly the smallest forelimbs in whole animal kingdom compared to body mass. Hands of this creature had four very small fingers, and only two of them actually had bones. Skull and jaws Carnotaurus had one of most bizarre skulls among the dinosaur world. He had big bony bumps, morphologically similar to horns of the modern bull above the orbital openings. It's likely that he didn't use them to fight, because they were really small and blunt, so they cannot leave any serious damage. He perhaps used these bumps to attract mate during the mating season. Skull was also very light built, with large preorbital opening. Some paleontologists think this large opening may have cooled Carnotaurus' skull or blood. Shape of skull itself was very strange, too. Skull was relatively thin and flattened from the sides, allowing animal to move head very quick and possible even attack during running. Carnotaurus had a very big postorbital area of skull, allowing him to bite very strong. According to paleontologist Robert Bakker, so-called "rottweiler effect" makes an animal's bite powerful. The "rottweiler effect" is especially large back part of the skull (postorbitlal area) where jaw muscles are located. The bigger the postorbital area - the stronger the bite force. Also, Carnotaurus's ''teeth are very unique design - they were very wide, and relatively blunt, resembling the railroad spike. These teeth are very suitable for crushing bone, making this carnivore's bite enormously lethal. His relatively large eyes were positioned right at the front of the skull, giving him binocular and tro-dimensional vision, what's pretty unusual in Dinosauria. Skin and feathers A single nearly complete skeleton has been described, including a large skin print on the right side of the specimen, covering the head, arms, torso and legs, showing us much about its skin. It shows us that it was covered in circular non overlapping scales, with osteoderms running down the length of the back. The type species ''Carnotaurus sastrei is the only known species, though it is related to other Abelisaurids from Madagascar, Argentina, India, and North Africa. In Popular Culture *''Carnotaurus'' appeared in the novel The Lost World by Michael Crichton (1995) as a color-changing chameleon-like dinosaur, but this ability is purely speculative. It also appeared in a level of the video game adaptation of the film. *''Carnotaurus'' was set to make an appearance in the movie Jurassic Park ''/// as the dinosaur approaching the characters as they search for a cellular phone within giant heaps of ''Spinosaurus dung. However this was changed to a Ceratosaurus. *A Carnotaurus appears in the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom official trailer, implying that it will appear in the movie. These clones looked a bit different from their real-life counterparts. They were slightly oversized, had a broader snout, had pronated wrists like all of InGen’s cloned theropods, claws on all four fingers rather than just three of the four of the originals, and the speed was reduced. *At Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park, guests who ride "''Dinosaur''" (an attraction very loosely based on the Disney feature Dinosaur) are menaced by a large AudioAnimatronic "Carnotaurus", among other creatures. *In the Capcom game Dino Crisis 3, a Carnotaur pair gets brutally murdered by a savage, gigantic, black Tyrannosaurus, acting like a comeback after the T. rex's grizzly demise by a Giganotosaurus in Capcom's Dino Crisis 2. *''Carnotaurus'' appears in a free Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom DLC for Jurassic World: Evolution, based on the Fallen Kingdom dinosaur. *''Carnotaurus'' appears in ''Zoo Tycoon 2: Dino Danger Pack''. It is also present in ''Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals''. *Genetic material of Carnotaurus was in InGen's possession by 2014 and was used in the creation of the genetic hybrid Indominus rex in the film, ''Jurassic World''. *''Carnotaurus'' appears in Jurassic World: Alive, based on the Fallen Kingdom dinosaur. *It can be created from DNA in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder. *It appears in the science fiction movie Raptor Island as the predator of the Raptors. *''Carnotaurus'' also appears in the 2011 series Terra Nova as a predator of humans. *''Carnotaurus'' was made popular by the 2000 Walt Disney movie Dinosaur, where two of the theropods (likely male and female) were the main antagonists as they hunted down the main protagonists while they journied to the Nesting Grounds (originally this was supposed to have been Tyrannosaurus rex, but at the last minute they were replaced by Carnotaurus, who were also inaccurately shown to have been T. rex-sized). *''Carnotaurus'' appears in Bizarre Dinosaurs, where they talk about how strange this theropod looked. *A Carnotaurus named ACE appeared in the anime series Dinosaur King. *A Carnotaurus appears in Life After Dinosaurs where it is inaccurately shown as a predator of Edmontonia (which lived in North Ameria) and Saltasaurus. *It can be a playable dinosaur in the online game Primal Carnage. *''Carnotaurus'' also has a main role in the animated film Turok: Son of Stone. *''Carnotaurus'' stars in the 2013 Asylum film Age of Dinosaurs filling a similar role for the Raptors of Jurassic Park. *''Carnotaurus'' appears in The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave, where one is seen chasing the characters into a cave before they escape. It is seen again later in the film when the rescue party hide from it. *''Carnotaurus'' can be created in Jurassic Park: Builder. It is a limited edition dinosaur. It shares the Spinosaurus, Suchomimus, Yutyrannus, and Baryonyx animation. But it has large 3 fingered arms, but in reality, it had tiny 4 fingered arms. *It can be created from DNA in Jurassic World: The Game as a rare dinosaur. It uses the same animations and sound effects of the Tyrannosaurus, Majungasaurus, Allosaurus, Megalosaurus, Metriacanthosaurus, Rajasaurus, Giganotosaurus, Yutyrannus, Gorgosaurus, and Tyrannotitan, but unlike most, it has an accurate number of fingers: 4. *Carnotaurus was seen in Stage 7 on Dinosaur Hunting (XBOX), where two Carnotaurus became the main targets to be tranquilized and rescued. *''Carnotaurus'' is also featured in the open-world survival game ARK: Survival Evolved, where it is the first large carnivore players can tame and ride. *''Carnotaurus'' is one of the interactive creatures featured in Dinosaur Adventure 3D; one features a video focusing on it while telling fun facts, and another showing it falling prey to a pack of ''Velociraptor''s. *Carnotaurus is a playable dinosaur in the ROBLOX game "Era of Terror" it is one of the most accurately depicted animals in the game, it even has the real animal's wide turn radius. It isn't in the game's remake "Era of Terror: Remastered", instead being replaced by its relative Majungasaurus. Gallery Carnotaurus/Gallery References Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnotaurus http://animal.discovery.com/dinosaurs/carnotaurus.htm http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/c/carnotaurus.html http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/CARNOTAURUS http://www.wikidino.com/?page_id=311 Documentaries: Bizarre Dinosaurs & Life After Dinosaurs Books: Dino Wars; by Jinny Johnson, consulted by Michael J. Benton The Audubon Society Pocket Guides Familiar Dinosaurs; by Alfred A. Knopf. 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